Battlefleet Calixis
Battlefleet Calixis is a colossal fleet of Imperial Navy vessels charged with the the protection of the Calixis Sector, an Imperial sector located in the Segmentum Obscurus on the northern edge of the known galaxy, near the Halo Stars and the Eye of Terror. To the trailing edge of the galaxy, the Calixis Sector is bordered by the hazardous territories of the Fydae Great Cloud and to spinward by the Scarus Sector. Battlefleet Calixis origins can be traced back to 384.M39, when the Calyx Expanse was officially declared conquered and the Angevin Crusade at an end by General Drusus. The sector's Imperial Navy headquarters is located at the orbital void-station known as Port Wrath within the Golgenna Reach Sub-sector. History The Calixis Sector ]] From the first discovery of the Koronus Fragments amongst Segmentum Obscuras naval records in 101.M38, the Imperium knew there might be unknown threats beyond the raging warp storms at the edge of the Calyx Expanse. These purported records of an unknown Explorator fleet told of mineral-rich worlds, habitable biospheres, and alien empires in the Halo Stars rimward of the Calyx Expanse. As the Angevin Crusade forged those lawless regions into the Calixis Sector, the Imperial Navy probed the edges of the Drusus Marches, searching for passages through the vast storms. None could be found, and the Navy ceased searching in the years after the Crusade, as ships returned to their former battlefleets and the sadly depleted remnants formed the nucleus of the nascent Battlefleet Calixis. Battlefleet Calixis officially came into being in 384.M39 when General Drusus declared the Calyx Expanse conquered and the Angevin Crusade at an end. The newly formed Calixis Sector was established with Scintilla as its capital world and Port Wrath selected to act as sector naval headquarters. A substantial portion of the Angevin Crusade fleet dispersed to the coreward sectors, some returning to berths that they had left some sixty standard years before while others journeyed to join Imperial Crusades further along the rim. Aided by several Escort squadrons, the remaining half-dozen ships of the line formed the nucleus of the new Battlefleet Calixis. Founding Fathers Sub-Sector]] All six vessels were veterans of the Angevin Crusade, their war-weary crews the survivors of the bloody death throes of the unspeakably vile alien race known as the Yu'vath. Most held the Yu'vath to be the most powerful and dangerous of all the foes the Crusade fleet had faced in conquering the Calyx Expanse. Of the six, the Grand Cruisers Loci Veritas Lux and Loci Veritas Lumen were called late to the conflict, but they too bore the scars from the assaults of Bale Childer Daggerships in their final, desperate battles over the Yu'vath's inner fortresses. The Battleship Fist of Adamant and the Grand Cruiser Fire of Heaven unleashed the rain of fusion fire that finally wrought the end of those corrupt xenos and their Traitor allies. The Battlecruiser Chariot of Wrath lost thirty percent of its compartments to ravening Childer boarding parties at one point over the Hell Worlds of the Adrantis Nebula. Only the intercession of Iron Hands Space Marine boarding parties turned the tide and recaptured the ship. The Battlecruiser Bellicose was a survivor of the Fenksworld Calamity in 359.M39 when High Admiral Vaakkon inexplicably ploughed the ''Apocalypse''-class Battleship Tempest's Child into the Fenksworld orbital docks, immolating himself and a dozen other warships. In the first few centuries of its existence, Battlefleet Calixis was fully occupied turning the fledgling Imperial sector from marks on a star chart into a reality. There were innumerable convoys of pilgrims, colonists and Adepts to escort, Secessionist regimes to overawe and countless pirates to hunt. It is said that Lord Admiral Retman Hayes, the third to hold that rank in as many decades, died of apoplexy while berating a group of Chartist Captains who dared to demand better protection for their goods. Over time the sector stabilised and vessels constructed at worlds under Imperial tithe began to expand the fleet. Even so, when the Calixian battlefleet faced its first true test in 467.M39 it was barely equal to the task. Purgation of Valon Urr In 467.M39, the moderately advanced and highly civilised world of Valon Urr indirectly fell victim to the War of Hubris, a covert trade war instigated by the nearby independent world of Sinophia. The Sinophians feared the increasing industrial might of the Imperials and undertook a campaign to use every means at their disposal barring outright war to maintain their position. A favourite Sinophian gambit was to use their agents to discover course logs and manifests for voidships carrying Imperial cargo and then pass the information on to xenos and pirates. Countless Imperial merchantmen were attacked, stripped, and destroyed. The situation became so desperate that four capital ships had to be assigned to the protection of merchant convoys entering the Golgenna Reach. Fortunately these were well placed to respond when an Astropathic distress call was received from the besieged world of Valon Urr. The rich pickings of the pirates had attracted a larger predator in the form of a coalition of Ork Freebooter vessels under the command of the Greenskin Warlord Brazzer Magtoof. The four capital vessels formed a temporary squadron led by the Fire of Heaven under Admiral Lightman-Kapes and engaged the Orks over Valon Urr. Lightman-Kapes defeated the Orks, but tragically the planet was heavily damaged by debris from the ensuing orbital battle and Ork infestations. In 601.M39 Valon Urr was declared a Shrine World in memory of the sacrifice of the millions of citizens who died that day. The Threefold In the aftermath of Valon Urr, Battlefleet Calixis adopted a policy of more aggressive patrolling and reduced convoy protection in hopes that major engagements could be pursued in enemy territory in the future. This policy was completely rescinded in 123.M40 after the loss of a capital ship task force led by the Fire of Heaven and two ''Chalice''-class Battlecruisers against unknown assailants in the Hazeroth Abyss. Two heavily protected watch installations were lost within a year in the same region, forcing a withdrawal of the sector boundary and ending further military expansion into the Abyss. This woeful incident became known as "The Threefold Curse." Despite increased vigilance, no trace was ever found of the attackers from the Hazeroth Abyss. The Hazeroth Sub-sector has been kept heavily reinforced ever since in case whatever horror is lurking in the Abyss should rise again. The White Sorrows Beginning in 556.M40, xenos corsairs plagued the Periphery Sub-sector with a series of devastating raids. Imperial lexographers knew them only as the Kabal of the White Sorrow, a piratical alliance of Dark Eldar renegades led by a shadowy figure known only as the Butcher Archon. The White Sorrow struck seemingly at will and over nearly two decades they enslaved an estimated two million colonists from the struggling frontier worlds of the Periphery. Despite strenuous efforts, the capital ships of Battlefleet Calixis were unable to bring the Eldar Corsairs to battle and suffered a string of stinging defeats in Escort clashes in the Sleef, Ganf Magna and Kulth Systems. In 570.M40 a Cruiser squadron formed near Sinophia for a special mission. It consisted of the Light Cruisers Intemperate and Intractable along with the Chalice-class Battlecruiser Triumph of Saint Drusus. The squadron joined a small fleet of Explorator vessels and Rogue Trader forces under the overall command of Rogue Trader and Imperial agent Kobras Aquairre. Through some unspecified means (many suspected xenos involvement) Aquairre was able to lead his task force into a direct confrontation with the White Sorrow's fleet at an unnamed star deep in wilderness space. Here beneath the blood-red light of a dying star the old bones of planets formed grinding shoals of rocky debris throughout the system. Jewel-like in the chaos hung a gleaming Webway portal surrounded by sleek Eldar vessels. For once, the xenos corsairs were caught flat-footed and Aquairre's flagship, the Son of Seth, struck the portal at extreme range with an unknown type of Lance weapon. The resulting distortion effect barred the portal temporarily; xenos vessels trying to flee through the portal were seen being hurled back with great force. The White Sorrows suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Aquairre's composite Imperial force. Trapped against the rocky shoals and with an unstable Warp distortion in their midst, there was little they could do but die to the superior firepower of the capital ships surrounding them. A score of Raider-sized vessels attempted escape through the dense asteroid fields, but of these only a handful survived. Aquairre rammed the corsair's flagship, Altar of Torment, with his own vessel, slaying the Butcher Archon personally in hand- to-hand combat. The strength of the White Sorrows was utterly broken in the battle and it was subsequently marked as a Victorix Magna in the honours of the warships involved. In the aftermath of the fall of the White Sorrows, Battlefleet Calixis was not to see another major capital ship engagement for almost two hundred standard years. Pirate and xenos ships fled at even the rumour of Navy vessels approaching the area. Several capital ships were withdrawn to reserve status as unsuitable for the patrolling and escort duties that became the norm. However, this outwardly mundane and sensible action laid the seeds of a great conflagration. War of Brass Sedition among the Hive Worlds of the Gelmiro Cluster erupted into full-blown rebellion under the charismatic "Emperor of Brass" in 738.M40. Already heavily militarised, the Gelmiro Cluster soon became a storehouse and armoury for rebel groups on a dozen nearby worlds. Renegade warships flocked to the region, including the mutinous crews of two of the battlefleet's newest capital ships, the Chalice-class Battlecruisers Hosiana's Hand and Hel's Promise. Battlefleet Calixis found itself caught short-handed by the turn of events, and fleet personnel made heroic efforts to get reserve capital ships ready for action. Even so, weeks later when the Battleship Fist of Adamant under Vice-Admiral Dayes led the first punitive expedition to the rebel worlds, it left Port Wrath with thousands of dock workers still aboard. The Gelmiro Cluster had been heavily fortified, but Vice-Admiral Dayes set about methodically picking apart the defences. The Renegade Battlecruisers posed the greatest threat to Dayes' forces but both fell victim to their own hubris in separate incidents. The lone wolf tactics they used against Dayes' deceptively plodding advance brought them up against superior forces at every turn. Hel's Promise fell to the guns of the Chariot of Wrath while Hosiana's Hand barely escaped from the Fist of Adamant with crippling damage and fled the star system. The War of Brass was short-lived but extremely bloody. Within three standard years, Imperial Navy ships hung over decimated War Worlds in the Gelmiro Cluster, supporting Titans and Space Marines as they crushed the remaining pockets of Renegade resistance. However, as the Emperor of Brass went onto the defensive he used his debased worship of the Ruinous Powers to unleash ever greater horrors upon the once-proserpous Gelmiro Cluster. Even today, his lost domain remains a shunned place of blasted War Worlds. The Meritech Wars (211-226.M41) The so-called Meritech Clans, a coalition of voider families driven out of the neighbouring Ixaniad sector some three millennia previously, seceded from Imperial rule in 211.M41. The Merates Cluster had long been a home to renegades and outlaws but the anarchy unleashed by the clans' extensive raids surprised with Ixaniad Sector. By good fortune, the rise in power of Sector Governor Myram Harvala spelled the doom of the Meratech clans. Harvala recognized all too well the threat to his new domain and was quick to encourage a vigourous response from the Imperial Navy. Battlefleet Calixis enjoyed a brief but rapid expansion under the governor's patronage, particularly among its escort squadrons which added scores of vessels to their number. Over the next decade and a half, Battlefleet Calixis methodically hunted down and crushed the Meratech clans in space before pounding their worlds into lifeless rubble. Observers note the escort squadrons of Battlefleet Calixis gained a great deal of confidence and expertise in the Meratech Wars, giving them a fighting reputation that carries through to the current day. The First Siege of Vaxanide In 410.M41, an Astropathic distress call from the Vaxanide system alerted the fleet to a confederation of Ork raiders besieging the system. An estimated eighty-plus Ork raiders made up their "fleet" and they held Vaxanide virtually prisoner. No ships could safely approach and crudely-armoured landing craft were descending to assail the hive cities. The initial Ork assaults were swiftly repulsed but a grave long-term threat was posed to Vaxanide and the whole Malfian sub-sector if its vital trade routes were strangled. Heavy warp storms scattered and delayed the Navy's response. The grand cruiser Chariot of Wrath under Commodore Brokk and a newly commissioned ''Lunar''-class Cruiser Pride of Scintilla arrived first almost a year later and, deciding not to wait for reinforcements, entered the system alone. The unexpected arrival of the Imperial ships enabled them to surprise a dozen Ork raiders reloading at an asteroid base in the outer system. Fully half of the ramshackle alien ships were pounded into scrap by battery fire and torpedoes before they could respond. Unfortunately, swarms of fighta-bommaz managed to launch and damage the Pride. A subsequent counter-attack by the Orks was driven off with heavy losses but attack craft continued to plague the two ships incessantly, in particular the Pride, with its inexperienced gunners and rapidly-accumulating damage. Despite the odds, Brokk pushed deeper into the system to confront the main Ork force over Vaxanide. A fierce battle developed as the Orks, encumbered by holds full of plunder, struggled to engage the Imperial ships in the face of withering fire. Nonetheless, numbers evidently took their toll and the Pride fell to the surface of Vaxanide in a blazing death grip with the Terror-ship Slicer. The Chariot of Wrath fought on alone until the timely arrival of the Veritas Lux and six additional vessels. The resurgent Imperial forces crushed the Freeboter ships, although it was later discovered that a sizeable remnant escaped to plague the Frontier Worlds of Ganf Magna. The Second Siege of Vaxanide Battlefleet Calixis planners were left wary of Vaxanides' vulnerability after the first Ork attack and bolstered its defences with long range augury stations in the system's outer reaches. Their foresight was rewarded in 507.M41 when the Space Hulk Pinnacle of Savagery was detected approaching Vaxanide with an accompanying fleet of Ork ships. A task force was quickly assembled from Imperial Navy, Explorator and Rogue Trader vessels under overall command of Lord-Admiral Vargaz. The combined fleet arrived in time to engage the Orks while they were still in the outer reaches, scattering their ships and shattering the Pinnacle of Savagery with massed weapon battery fire during its approach. Some Orks broke through the Imperial gun line despite the odds and considerable fighting had to be done to clear them from Vaxanide itself. However, only a tiny fraction of the horde survived the thunderous net of death they encountered to make planetfall. Even the notoriously taciturn Lord-Admiral Vargaz is said to have commented that the second siege was "a most satisfactory affair." The Margin Crusade The Margin Crusade declared in 784.M41 by the Synod Obscurus did much to strip away the strength painstakingly built up by Battlefleet Calixis in previous centuries. Several capital ships (including the Chariot of Wrath) and a great number of escorts were called away to fight beyond the light of the Astronomicon to the galactic north. To date, none of these ships has returned to the Calixis Sector and news about the crusade's progress remains sparse to nonexistent. Despite the ongoing drain of ships to the Margin Crusade, Battlefleet Calixis has quietly expanded again and again over the last few decades. Even the dullest naval officers realise that expansion and exploration is occurring beyond the Maw, and eventually the Navy may play a part in the Koronus Expanse. As preparations proceed for more wide scale operations, it remains to be seen just how well-equipped the Imperial Navy can really be for subduing the terrors to be found in the Koronus Expanse. Naval Discipline Naval discipline is brutal. The regulations cover a dizzying variety of infractions, and for most of them the punishment is death. Infractions vary from fleet to fleet, even from ship to ship. According to Battlefleet Calixis regulations, for example, crewmembers caught sleeping during their watch are to be beaten to death by their comrades, those that neglect maintenance are to be electrocuted, black marketeers are strangled, and hoarders are starved. Even minor failings such as an unkempt appearance or speaking after curfew might earn a flogging. Page after page, chapter after chapter of the regulations codify punishments in exhaustive detail. In every case the attitude is taken that branding an indelible message on the rest of the crew is more important than the lives of any wrongdoers. Crew have no rights of appeal nor indeed trial beyond what the captain grants them, and his word is law. This being said, few captains are ferocious enough to execute their crew as often or as viscerally as the regulations demand. The best command through respect as much as discipline, and for most the threat is enough to wield absolute authority. However, the Navy wants captains that are feared and respected, not loved. Where the captain fails in his duty, the fleet Commissar stands ready to ensure discipline is properly maintained. Battlefleet Calixis Fleet Composition *'Frigates' - Frigates fill the ranks of Battlefleet Calixis, where they are prized commands for the youngest and most aggressive naval captains. While a frigate may not seem as prestigious as a cruiser or battleship, their versatility means they are the Navy's ship of choice for all manner of actions. Frigates are tasked for convoy escorts, patrols, anti-piracy operations, and even attacks on rebel ships and stations. They routinely skirmish with the frigates and raiders of seditionists, pirates, and even hostile xenos races. Thus, a frigate captain is "in the mix" much more often than his counterparts aboard the Battlefleet's larger vessels. **''Sword''-class Frigates - The ''Sword''-class Frigates have been a mainstay escort vessel for Battlefleet Calixis ever since its founding. Every system aboard one of these frigates has been tried and tested in innumerable engagements. Its laser-based weapons and turrets are accurate and hard-hitting, its plasma drives are rugged and reliable in extreme conditions. Few task forces do not include at least a pair of Swords to guard the flanks of larger vessels or pursue smaller, faster raiders. *'Light Cruiser' - Light cruisers are the eyes and ears of the Battlefleet. Smaller and faster than true cruisers, light cruisers have the massive fuel and supply reserves for deep void patrols. These may last for years, even decades, and thus light cruiser commanders must be independent-minded and self-reliant. Light cruisers are also used as the flagships of small squadrons of frigates and destroyers tasked with escorting convoys or hunting pirates. **''Dauntless''-class Light Cruisers - Light, scouting cruisers are the eyes and ears of Imperial fleets. They carry enough fuel and supplies for patrols that last months or even years, and enough firepower to dispatch any smaller vessels foolish enough to close with them. The Dauntless-class is popular because it combines the manoeuvrability of a frigate with a daunting forward lance armament. *'Cruisers' - A cruiser is a warship through and through. These are the ships of the line of Battlefleet Calixis, the heavy-hitters that fight major naval engagements. These ships are rare—building one takes centuries if not longer, and requires knowledge and technology from mankind's golden age now only known to the most powerful tech-magos. However, each vessel, often five or more kilometres long—carries the firepower to burn planets. They are designed to win wars, and the Imperial Navy guards them zealously. **''Lunar''-class Cruisers - The ''Lunar''-class Cruiser makes up the backbone of Battlefleet Calixis. Its (relatively) uncomplicated design dates back to the dawn of the Imperium, and it can be constructed at worlds normally unable to build a ship of the line. Its variety of weapons batteries, lances, and torpedoes make it both a versatile combatant and dangerous foe. Notable Vessels of Battlefleet Calixis The following are some of the famed vessels in Battlefleet Calixis. Some have served in the Battlefleet since the founding of the Sector, while others are more recent additions: *''Fist of Adamant'' (''Retirbution''-class Battleship) - Flagship of the current Lord-Admiral of the Calixis Sector. The Fist of Adamant is an ancient and potent Retribution-class battleship with systems dating back as far as the 32nd millennium. The Fist is believed to have been salvaged from a Space Hulk and rebuilt somewhere in the Scarus Sector in the 37th millennium. In the midst of a long and illustrious career, the Fist of Adamant won great renown with Battlefleet Calixis as the saviour of Port Wander. Under the command of the then Lord-Admiral Androvast Strophes, the Fist ''led the charge that finally broke the Ork blockade around the station. She was heavily damaged in an epic duel with the Ork flagship ''Da Wurldbreaka during the encounter and afterwards had to limp back to Port Wrath for extensive repairs. It was over a century and a half before the Fist of Adamant was again able to return to full active service. *''Loci Veritas Lux'' (''Exorcist''-class Grand Cruiser) - One of two Exorcist-class Grand Cruisers in the Battlefleet Calixis, the Loci Veritas Lux is a variant of the old ''Vengeance''-class, a handsome keel-built ship designed at a time when broadside firepower dominated tacticians' thinking above all else. While the Vengenace sacrificed prow armour and weaponry for improved broadsides and turrets, the Exorcist class fitted launch bays in place of the broadside lances and increased stores so the ships could operate self-sufficiently for long periods. This created a more versatile vessel, but Exorcists remain a rare sight except along the Rim, although that versatility makes them popular with Rogue Traders. Loci Veritas Lux and its sister-ship Loci Veritas Lumen have been successfully employed for several centuries in the Calixis Sector leading patrols and supporting convoys. The attack craft squadrons make the Exorcists a terror to pirates and raiders, while their increased endurance allows them to stay on patrol long after smaller craft have to turn for home. It is rumoured that both Exorcists have been ordered join Navy forces in the Koronus Expanse where their great endurance can be put to good use. How well these old warhorses will stand up to the trip through the Maw is a matter of sharp concern for Rear–Admiral Skalingden. *''Loci Veritas Lumen'' (''Exorcist''-class Grand Cruiser) - One of two Exorcist-class Grand Cruisers in the Battlefleet Calixis, the Loci Veritas Lumen is a variant of the old ''Vengeance''-class Grand Cruisers. Loci Veritas Lumen and its sister-ship Loci Veritas Lux have been successfully employed for several centuries in the Calixis Sector leading patrols and supporting convoys. The attack craft squadrons make the Exorcists a terror to pirates and raiders, while their increased endurance allows them to stay on patrol long after smaller craft have to turn for home. Commodore Wake used the Loci Veritas Lux as his flagship in the Golgenna Reaches for three decades, transferring his flag to the newly arrived ''Mars''-class Battlecruiser Promethean Thunder only recently. It is rumoured that both Exorcists have been ordered join Navy forces in the Koronus Expanse where their great endurance can be put to good use. *''Triumph of Saint Drusus'' (''Chalice''-class Battlecruiser) - The Chalice-class battlecruiser is a design thought unique to the Calixis sector, along with all other vessels produced in the Lathes Forge Worlds. Famed ship-wright Hosiana Joz is said to have been gifted a vision of the Chalice-class sent by the Omnissiah. He was inspired to set about crafting a warship that could survive the turbulent tides in the Immaterium so often found close to the rim. Some whisper that the resultant ships possess some of the interior structures and conduit relays of an old [[Hades-class Heavy Cruiser|''Hades''-class Heavy Cruiser. Despite such mutterings the handful of Chalice-class built are acknowledged as fine ships, even if it's said they possess a bit of a glass jaw. The Triumph of Saint Drusus won fame routing the Emperor's foes in many engagements, often operating independently to take full advantage of its superior grace and speed. However, an ill star does seem to hang over the history of the class. A disproportionate number have been lost over the centuries in enemy action (or unknown circumstances), while others have fallen and gone over to the Ruinous Powers. Currently, Lord-Captain Laomyr and the Triumph are on detached duty, investigating "disturbances at Sheol VII." Sources *''Rogue Trader: Core Rulebook'' (RPG), pp. 18, 33, 190-191, 195-196 , 341, 343, 356 *''Rogue Trader: Battlefleet Koronus'' (RPG), pp. 54-58, 72 Category:B Category:Calixis Sector Category:Imperial Navy Category:Imperium Category:Battlefleet